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“Well okay, then,” said Jayna.
The look on her sister’s face softened as though she was content with having a chance to prove herself. Jayna could start applying for corporate jobs again in a few months, and until then, make some money working in Papillon. That money would help her sister, too. It was time for Jayna to admit that she was stuck here for the time being.
It would also be great to eviscerate Quaid Havery in court. She simply needed the right case.
When she left town again, maybe her sister would be in a better position.
And that man would remember her name. “You’ve got a deal.”
•••
Quaid was still thinking about that gorgeous, irritable woman who’d stormed into his life as he made the drive back to the big house he’d grown up in.
“Quaid, are you there?”
Unfortunately, he was also on the phone with one of his best friends and longtime clients, Rene Darois. “Of course. I’ll get that contract to you tomorrow.”
Luckily he knew this particular deal backward and forward. Rene simply needed to talk before he made a big move, and all Quaid needed to do was listen. Well, absentmindedly listen.
A sigh came over the line. “I’m being annoying.”
If there was anyone in the world who didn’t annoy him, it was Rene. Rene was the only person in his life who truly understood what it meant to have the weight of a whole family on your shoulders. Rene had also had his path in life laid out for him at a young age. He’d taken over the company that had been in his family for decades, working in the position his father had held.
Quaid had often thought that Rene had the harder road since he’d had that massive family of his to look after and all Quaid had to deal with was his mother and younger brother. But then Paul had lost his damn mind and become harder to deal with than all of Rene’s kooky aunts and uncles and cousins combined.
Rene’s family just fought about money. Paul’s demons were far more demanding, but he’d been in LA for the last two years and seemed to be doing well now. With the exception of holidays, he saw little of his brother, and that was how he liked it.
Rene, Armie, and Remy were his brothers. His friends had become his family.
“Not at all,” Quaid replied. “You’re being thorough, and I’m being distracted. Tell me something. Do you remember Sienna’s younger sister? She was a year behind us in school.”
“Jayna Cardet?” Rene asked.
“Why did I think her name was June?”
“No idea, since if I do recall, she was the one who got you through French,” Rene replied. “She also had a big crush on you and you barely noticed she was there.”
Damn. No wonder the woman had been irritable. “She’s back in town and she’s a lawyer. I faced her down in court today. I probably should have read whatever she sent over but I’m lazy when it comes to these cases. Honestly, I was surprised Geraldine sued. Jimmy always meant to get her some blackout shades. I think that woman convinced her to take this thing to court. Are you sure she had a thing for me?”
A chuckle came over the line. “I’m sure. She did half your homework for you and got that dopey, glazed look in her eyes anytime you walked in a room. I’m surprised you don’t remember her. She was a whiz kid. I’m pretty sure she was the valedictorian of her class. She was the editor of the school paper and president of the debate team.”
He hadn’t paid attention to any of those things. High school had been a blissful time to play football and drink beer and date cheerleaders. He’d known his path. His place at Tulane had been assured by all the work his father had done for the school, and then he was on to Harvard Law,where he’d frozen his ass off for three years before coming home. High school had been his time. He hadn’t bothered with things like extracurricular activities to pad his résumé in hopes of getting into a good school or looking attractive to a scholarship committee.
Yeah, he’d been an overly privileged asshole now that he thought about it. “Well, I didn’t remember her and that is a mistake on my part.”
“She looks good, doesn’t she?” Rene asked. “She was at Guidry’s the other day when Sylvie and I took my momma and Louis to dinner. She doesn’t look like a down-on-her-luck divorcée.”
“She’s divorced?” That was some interesting information. “Do you know what happened?”
“How do you not know this?”
“How do you know it? You’re not exactly the town gossip.”
“I suppose I spend more time in New Orleans than you do.” Rene’s company had an office there. “It was something of a story about six months ago. She was involved with some client who ended up going to jail when she turned him in. I’m not sure what she turned him in for, but it was a bit of a scandal.”
“Yes, it would be.” He wanted to know the rest of that story. “Attorney-client privilege is the holy grail in our world. The client would have to have done something criminal. Her firm fired her?”
“Yes, and from what I understand, she was married to the son of the head of the firm. He divorced her, and I think she’s being blackballed. She couldn’t find a job in New Orleans so now she’s back at her momma’s,” Rene explained. “Sylvie’s thinking of hiring her to do some city work.”
